Book sheds new light on Pleasanton girl's notorious 1984 murder

By Malaika Fraley mfraley@bayareanewsgroup.com

POSTED:   09/21/2015 09:02:13 AM PDT0 COMMENTS| UPDATED:   8 DAYS AGO

Joshua Suchon, former Bay Area sports writer who just released the book "Murder in Pleasanton: Tina Falez and The Search for Justice." (Photo courtesy of Joshua Suchon)

PLEASANTON -- Sports journalist Joshua Suchon was a 10-year-old paperboy for the Tri-Valley Herald in 1984 when he delivered the news that Tina Faelz, a 14-year-old girl from his Pleasanton neighborhood, had been brutally murdered while walking home from Foothill High School.

Suchon and other Pleasantonians who grew up in the shadow of the long unsolved murder waited 30 years before Tina's former schoolmate Steven Carlson was convicted based on DNA evidence at a trial where no motive was presented. 

The convicting jury heard there had been little contact between the teens before Tina was found stabbed and slashed 44 times at the foot of a culvert near the Carlson family home.

The jury never heard what Suchon learned in his reporting for his newly released book, "Murder in Pleasanton: Tina Faelz and the Search for Justice."

"Murder in Pleasanton" reveals a shocking and little-known connection between Tina and Carlson that provides for a possible motive to the killing for which Carlson still claimed innocence when he was sentenced in January to 26 years to life in prison.

Author Signing Appearances

Here are the locations that I will be signing copies of "Murder in Pleasanton: Tina Faelz and the Search for Justice."

I'll be discussing how/why I wrote this book, the challenges, answering all questions, and signing copies.

Come join us.

Local author chronicles 'Murder in Pleasanton

Updated: Wed, Sep 23, 2015, 5:44 pm
Uploaded: Sun, Sep 13, 2015, 7:52 am

Pleasanton native writes detailed narrative on Tina Faelz slaying

by Dolores Fox Ciardelli

Joshua Suchon was in fifth grade at Donlon Elementary in April 1984 when Tina Faelz, 14, was stabbed to death on her way home from Foothill High School, her body found on a path students used as a shortcut to the Valley Trails neighborhood. Finally, in 2011, classmate Steve Carlson was arrested on suspicion of the murder.

So four years ago when Suchon, a sportswriter/announcer, wanted to tackle a subject besides baseball and sports for his third book, he thought of the crime that was a vivid childhood memory for him -- and which at last had resolution.

"The thing that drew me to the story was my sister knew Steve Carlson," Suchon said. "He used to walk my sister home from school. A lot of my sister's friends knew him."

Why a minor league baseball radio guy wrote a True Crime book

I've always wanted to complete a project that did not involve sports.

My career arc has never been traditional. I've veered in a lot of different directions, a lot of different locations, a lot of different mediums. Newspaper reporter in the San Francisco Bay Area. Minor league baseball radio announcer in Modesto. Pre- and post-game radio guy in Los Angeles. Free-lance TV guy and book author in Los Angeles. Minor league baseball radio announcer again, this time in Albuquerque.

They've all involved sports, yet I've never considered myself purely a sports guy. My interests are much more diverse than sports. I've always fought the stereotypes of somebody who works in sports. My apartment provides little indication that I work in sports. I've always considered myself a journalist/reporter who just happen to work in sports. That's easy for me to say. It's hard to convince other people it's true.

This book was my way of proving, mostly to myself, that I can do real journalism that does not involve home runs and strikeouts.